Letter from the Chairman

Letter from
the Chairman

Denis Hébert
Chairman, SIA Board of Directors

Dear SIA Members and Industry Colleagues,

In 2017, the Security Industry Association (SIA) strengthened its efforts to support the security industry through key collaborations – a key tenet of our strategic framework – that reinforced the value proposition to our members.

First and foremost, SIA Government Relations achieved some key victories last year through its work in forming coalitions (with fellow nonprofit associations) to advocate positions advantageous to the security industry, thereby fulfilling our strategic objectives in Advocacy. Among some actions witnessed in 2017: Congress enacted the Power and Security Systems Act, which made permanent a policy exempting security and life safety external power supplies from burdensome energy requirements. In addition, at the very end of the year, President Donald Trump signed into law a tax reform package that provides significant incentives for small- and medium-sized businesses to purchase new security and life safety systems.

SIA teamed up with the International Security Management Association (ISMA) to produce a groundbreaking resource, the SIA-ISMA Security Industry Technology Forecast, to provide SIA members with insight into chief security officer strategic planning and ISMA members with the input detailing the direction of technological developments to help them guide investments. The outcome of this effort was not only a strong relationship with a premier association representing senior security executives but also a first-of-its-kind resource in the technology forecast.

Next, SIA strengthened its relationship with the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation (IAHSS Foundation) by collaborating on a hospital workplace violence report, Mitigating the Risk of Workplace Violence in Health Care Settings. This tremendously well-received report recognized the major challenge of workplace violence in medical facilities and prescribed methods to stop it.

Finally, SIA worked with ASIS International, an important partner, to begin a career-mapping project. ASIS International provides perspective from the individual security practitioner while SIA provides insights on corporate environments for security solutions providers, making us the perfect team to produce a document addressing this critical issue confronting all segments of the security industry. Workforce development has been an important topic for the association and our members, and we will deliver the results of this project in the coming months as one of our major accomplishments in 2018.

Meanwhile, with the technological refresh of the SIA website, original content and analyses by SIA members now populate a Knowledge Center built around “markets” and “solutions.” I invite all SIA Members to contribute to our new website, as there are many opportunities to write articles, blogs and other material for those who would like to do so. This Knowledge Center is for all SIA members to contribute and use! One of SIA’s strategic objectives is to be the Trusted Technical Resource to our members, and one way we do so is through carefully crafted vendor-neutral content on security technology and trends.

Throughout 2017, we developed and maintained SIA initiatives through collaborating with some great partners and by continuing our focus on fulfilling the objectives of our Strategic Framework. As you read through the SIA Annual Report for 2017, consider how those partners have made SIA and the security industry stronger together.

It has been an honor to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Directors over the last two years, and I thank all of our members, committee members, staff, partners and fellow board members for their contribution toward making SIA an outstanding organization.